USD's Ching wins S.D. Intercollegiate

The greens at San Diego Country Club were running Augusta National fast, the breeze was up after a nasty, rain-soaked morning, and USD golfer Alex Ching was being chased closely by two guys from the University of Washington who played in the U.S. Open last summer.

Those are all very good reasons for Ching to be thrilled when he emerged as the medalist of the fifth San Diego Intercollegiate Classic. The senior from Hawaii shot even-par 72 in the third round to score 2-under overall and prevail by one shot over Garrick Porteous of Tennessee (69).

Two shots behind were four players, including the two decorated Huskies – 2011 Walker Cup player Chris Williams (74) and freshman Cheng-Tsung Pan, whose past accomplishments include becoming the youngest player, at 15, to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur since Bobby Jones.

“My career at USD has been a good one and fun, and this win definitely ranks at the top,” Ching, 21, said of his sixth career college victory and second of the season. “I love playing out at San Diego Country Club. We play out there all of the time; we know the head pro by name (John Osborne) and everybody knows us out there. To be able to win on our home course, it’s pretty special.”

With three players finishing in the top 10, including La Costa Canyon alum Trevor Simsby (69) alone in seventh at 1-over, fifth-ranked Washington captured the team title at 6-over 870 in the 15-team field. The Huskies were seven shots better than runner-up and ninth-ranked USC and defeated No. 3 and third-place UCLA by 14 strokes.

San Diego State (23-over) tied for fourth, while co-host USD (29-over) finished sixth.

“It was a great field and a great track, so it felt like a big championship,” said Huskies coach Matt Thurmond. “This felt like what we’re going to see in the NCAAs. There were some great teams and the two home teams are really good. That’s a tough thing for us to come down to Southern California and come away with a victory.”

The tournament that began as a get-together for only the five local colleges grew this year into one of the best events on the spring college schedule. With the sponsorship support of Lamkin Grips and TaylorMade Golf, five of the top 25 teams in the country competed, as well as two-time defending national champion Augusta State.

The course setup at SDCC matched the quality of the field. Despite heavy rain at times, the greens still ran at close to 13 on the Stimpmeter, which is at least equal to the fastest surfaces at professional major championships.

“The greens are pure,” Ching said. “Other than in last year’s tournament, I’d never seen them so fast. Everybody was kind of joking that it felt like we were playing in the Masters. It was hard to keep the ball on the green.”

That only served to be an advantage for the top putters, as well as a player like Ching who understood where he could attack or back off. “Being able to know where you could hit shots, where you could make birdie from really helped,” Ching said.

Ching made two eagles in the tournament, including one at the par-5 second on Tuesday, when he striped a rescue-club shot from 234 yards that ended up 6 feet from the pin.